Twinless Writer-director James Sweeney can’t pinpoint the precise time when he realized concerning the uniquely advanced notion of dual loss and bereavement. But he can clearly recall what resonated with him probably the most earlier than he wrote the primary draft of Twinless in 2015. “It was the idea of this deep and singular form of grief, like a loss of self,” Sweeney remembers throughout a current dialog with Filmmaker Magazine on his sophomore characteristic, which premiered in Sundance to rave evaluations, and is opening theatrically on September 5 by means of Roadside Attractions. “It just seemed like such a multifaceted way to explore themes around identity.”
Also a producer and co-lead of Twinless, Sweeney performs Dennis, who meets Dylan O’Brien’s Roman at a twin bereavement assist group. They each misplaced a twin, it appears (with O’Brien additionally taking part in Rocky, Roman’s twin, throughout some flashback scenes); twin tragedies that result in a satisfying friendship between the 2 males. There are twists alongside the best way (it’s greatest to enter Twinless considerably chilly), with seemingly well-intentioned lies resulting in heartbreaking penalties. And each on the web page and on the display screen, Sweeney navigates the story’s many stunning turns with intelligence and a pointy humorousness.
Below, he talks about partnering with O’Brien, his cinematic goals and influences across the theme of duality, in addition to the movie’s open-ended conclusion. (The interview is edited for move and readability.)
Filmmaker: Dylan O’Brien navigates two components right here. Could you inform me about your collaboration?
Sweeney: Dylan and I met in 2020. It was a standard casting course of. He learn the script and watched my first movie, Straight Up. We zoomed and hit it off very instantly. He is so emotionally related to the characters that it’s a filmmaker’s dream. You simply need any individual who understands your script and will get your voice. He got here ready, and I simply felt seen. Anecdotally, I had heard actually optimistic issues about his status on set and who he’s as an individual from the individuals I work with within the business. And I can verify all of it. Wearing all these hats myself—performing, writing, directing, producing—what I hoped for was a associate in crime, any individual who I might share the load of this boulder that we had been attempting to push up a hill for thus a few years. It’s been a beautiful expertise, with the ability to navigate collectively the ups and the downs of what filmmaking finally is.
Filmmaker: What was it like, having him as a display screen associate? You two have a number of deeply susceptible moments.
Sweeney: I really feel like I realized a lot about performing, doing this movie. The concept of performing is attempting to faucet into honesty. And the best model is simply believing what you’re saying. And what makes Dylan’s efficiency so nice is, he’s so dialed in to the worlds of those characters, to their interior life. I’m significantly serious about the monologue within the lodge room—it flowed out of him. And that was actually miraculous and a bit intimidating to witness for me. He’s such a gift scene associate and so beneficiant in that approach. In lots of methods, he made my job simpler. One instance was that remaining diner scene [between Dennis and Roman], which we had deliberately scheduled to be one of many final issues we filmed, in order that we might construct into it. [That ended up] being one of many moments I’m most happy with. I can see that I’m actually locked into who Dennis is. I suppose that’s the excessive that actors chase, falling into one other world.
Filmmaker: In your screenplay, how did you navigate the construction of the story, ensuring you had been revealing the correct quantity of details about what Dennis had been protecting from Roman.
Sweeney: I imagine writing is rewriting and the attitude shift wasn’t current within the preliminary draft. It really was an concept that was born partially out of the response to my first movie, Straight Up, which can also be a twin protagonist story. It does a bookended perspective shift. And selfishly, one factor that I loved about equally weighted arcs between characters (apart from the steadiness, the duality and the symmetry it brings to the story) is; it relieves me of the strain to be the face of the film. I can promote any individual else’s face who individuals already are endeared to. And that fortunately, that occurred to be Dylan O’Brien [laughs].
In phrases of the method of decision-making as to when to disclose data: I get pleasure from moving into blind to films and being stunned when surprising issues occur. I feel trendy audiences are attuned to structural tropes and plot contrivances. On the one hand, I feel we crave familiarity, and also you don’t need to rewrite the principles utterly. But I additionally function from the belief that audiences are refined. And I had the additional benefit of this being an under-the-radar script. I didn’t have plenty of cooks within the kitchen, and I used to be in a position to unfold the story as I noticed match. I surrounded myself with individuals who championed me to inform the model of the film that I wished to inform. So I suppose we kind of let our little freak flag fly in our bubble and took some dangers that I’m blissful we did.
Filmmaker: The duality and symmetry you simply talked about emerges in varied alternative ways within the movie. You use break up screens, break up diopter, related costumes between the 2 major characters, and so forth. You additionally use montages splendidly.
Sweeney: I get pleasure from movies which might be world builders. And despite the fact that this can be a grounded character examine in some ways, I additionally wished it to really feel elevated and cinematic, all in service of shifting the narrative ahead. So to me, duality is emblematic of identification and the way we reveal completely different components of ourselves to varied individuals. And it clearly relates strongly to the thought of friendship, companionship and intimacy. But it additionally pertains to the lightness and darkness, each tonally and thematically.
In phrases of visuals, Brian De Palma was an affect on me. I attempt to problem myself to make use of the instruments at my disposal to inform the story as majestically as I can. And [to do that], I take into consideration the methods which have proceeded me—for example, I used a break up diopter and break up screens in my first film, too. Here I had a bigger sandbox to play in. And I attempted to raise issues the place I might. I wished Twinless to be form of a banger that folks have a very good time watching. And as for montages, I really like the montage. The most evident one is the friendship montage, which is the place we’re dwelling in Dennis’s perspective. Structurally, it’s a homage to the romantic comedy style, which could be very a lot ingrained in my formative DNA. In a classical filmmaking sense, I really like the montage as an enhancing method—you get the context while not having to see the complete scene.
Filmmaker: You stroll a really balanced line between comedy and drama right here. That’s how actual life works, too. Things could be awkwardly humorous generally, even throughout occasions of tragedy.
Sweeney: I might go even additional in talking about duality once more: I don’t imagine euphoria can exist with out despondence. They are two sides of the identical coin. It’s peaks and valleys. That is life, and it’s a spectrum. It exists in a number of colours. So for me, I really feel extra snug portray with the spectrum of feelings that movies could make you are feeling. But possibly my subsequent movie will probably be extra monochromatic, we’ll see. [Laughs.]
Filmmaker: You shot this film each on movie inventory, and on digital. What had been you hoping to convey by means of these two appears and stylistic decisions, particularly relating to the headspace of the characters?
Sweeney: I had lots of conversations with my cinematographer, Greg Cotton. He developed this app known as Filmbox, which is utilized by all the foremost submit homes. And the thought behind it (though he can clarify it way more technically than I can) is replicating the colour science, the halation, of bodily movie. Our conversations principally centered round, “What is it about film that I respond to so much?” And I’ve talked to completely different filmmakers, photographers and colorists, too. I do assume a part of it’s reminiscence. And I feel that additionally performs into the thought of nostalgia. When Roman initially meets Dennis, there’s a sense of solace and recreation, attempting to construct one thing new the place one thing was misplaced. And, he’s seeing items of his brother in Dennis. At probably the most fundamental degree, it’s like, “Oh, he is a gay twin who lost his straight brother, and I’m a straight man who lost my gay twin.” But, you already know, I feel it delves a lot deeper than that. And movie inventory, for some incalculable motive, works on an emotionally resonant degree for me. But then switching to digital, the thought behind it was taking part in with this theme of authenticity vs. artifice.
The digital segments use my cinematographer’s movie emulation software program, so hopefully the viewers can’t fairly discern why the visible language feels completely different. But for those who’re listening to the fluorescent lightings, even with the emulation, it doesn’t fairly seize gentle in the identical approach that actual movie inventory does. So there are particular nuances. And we additionally left in some imperfections of movie within the opening act, the specks. We deliberately left these in as a result of we wished these imperfections to stay [as] the vestiges of Roman’s childhood. So that was the reasoning behind these formal decisions.
I received a little bit little bit of pushback simply because movie is a costlier, and logistically, capturing with two cameras is a problem. But I felt actually strongly about what I realized. I cherished capturing on movie for the primary time—it’s a scarce useful resource, and it’s a must to be much more aware of what number of takes you do. And it’s a must to be that rather more ready. So it does change the mindset and the filmmaking course of. It was like doing theater—there’s one thing completely different once you received one shot.
Filmmaker: I need to discuss one among my favourite characters, Marcie. At first, I admit, I used to be prepared to write down her off as a happy-go-luck kind of particular person, maybe not with a substantial amount of depth. But she has such an extremely wealthy character arc. I simply cherished her.
Sweeney: This isn’t a secret: Marcie is my favourite character, and the key weapon of the movie. Perhaps weapon’s a robust phrase, as a result of she has such a gentle compass. She is a breath of contemporary air. I do assume there’s [a false belief] that people who find themselves chipper or optimistic, significantly ladies, [don’t have] lots occurring. So I used to be excited to slowly reveal her depths. Marcie has so many qualities that I respect and aspire to—her optimism, her empathy that she leads with. And I actually respect her sense of morality. She is aware of who she is and what she believes. I don’t assume she’s judgmental, however she’s additionally not a pushover. So it was essential for me to de-layer her.
Filmmaker: And when it comes to subverting expectations, you try this for Roman too. He finally ends up being much more advanced and perceptive than we initially give him credit score for.
Sweeney: I feel lots of Roman’s character was fashioned based mostly on his social circumstances and upbringing. And there’s a self-fulfilling prophecy—a part of the tragedy of Roman and Rocky’s relationship is, they’d a falling out of their teenage years. And Roman fell additional and additional into this concept of being a lesser twin. Dylan and I talked lots about intelligence, how there are a number of types of intelligence. And possibly we’re fast to prescribe attributes of intelligence to people who find themselves articulate and verbal. But there are such a lot of other forms of intelligence and Roman possesses lots of these. I feel we’re subverting expectations particularly about Romans emotional sensitivity. There is a facet of himself that he’s letting himself discover with Dennis, to open up in different components of his life.
Also, one thing I discovered in my analysis that I attempted to tie into Roman and Rocky’s backstory is, generally [a deep sense of intimacy] comes simpler to similar twins, because of the nature of their relationship and their upbringing. It’s so pure from delivery. But on the flip facet, it will probably trigger points and so we see him needing to be taught boundaries. It’s all about discovering individuals who meet you the place you’re at and fill these wants. And generally, if twins get all their wants met from their twin, that may additionally make it extra difficult for friendships and romantic relationships. I don’t imply to make any kind of sweeping generalizations on twins because it’s not a monolithic expertise. But that was one thing that I discovered attention-grabbing and tried to discover right here.
Filmmaker: With the diner scene finale, the movie leaves us on an open-ended observe. I wasn’t totally certain what was going to occur to the duo’s friendship. Was that open-endedness at all times your intention? Did you play with variations that redeemed Dennis extra?
Sweeney: I at all times felt the ending was the toughest factor. And that was completely the equation we had been attempting to unravel, despite the fact that it’s one thing that’s finally incalculable. And that’s why we shot it in the long run. I’ll say within the screenplay, there was a unique ending, leaning extra into darkish comedy. But I feel the movie revealed itself to be one thing with extra heft. I at all times knew the diner scene could possibly be the place the movie wanted to finish and I feel individuals’s response to the ending goes to be very a lot a mirror of their relationship to forgiveness and the way a lot they empathize with Dennis and Roman. In the enhancing course of, it instinctually felt like the suitable method to finish the movie: not totally neat or tied with a bow, however emotionally applicable.
Filmmaker: So, what’s your individual relationship to forgiveness?
Sweeney: I imagine in forgiveness. I feel it’s a highly effective act. I feel it’s uniquely human, and in observe, it’s a lot simpler mentioned than executed. I hope individuals will possibly reexamine their very own relationship to forgiveness. And I imply that as a lot for themselves and for different individuals, as a result of I feel we are sometimes our personal worst critics.
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